PARIVISION and VP advance while MOUZ fall to lower bracket in day two of TI 2026 European qualifier

The Dota 2 action in The International 2026's most competitive qualifier is starting to heat up.

The second day of The International (TI) 2026's European qualifier on Monday (22 June) saw its first big upset as Yellow Submarine knocked MOUZ down to the lower bracket. But while MOUZ faltered early, the other big names in this side of the bracket did not. TEAM VISION (aka PARIVISION) and Virtus.pro (VP) took care of business and advanced to the second round of the upper bracket.

Yellow Submarine send MOUZ to lower bracket in a 2-0 upset

While MOUZ were not the biggest favourites in the European qualifier, many thought the team still had the talent to at least be among the leading competitors for one of the four available spots in TI 2026. 

But since the sudden retirement of team captain Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp at the end of March, MOUZ have struggled mightily. Not only did they fail to qualify for DreamLeague Season 29 and BLAST Slam VII, they only managed to finish third and 9th-10th in PREMIER SERIES and 1win Essence 1, both Tier 2 tournaments, and even bombed out of PGL Wallachia Season 8. 

Ahead of the TI 2026 qualifiers, Nikita “Panto” Balaganin took over as MOUZ's new captain following his unsuccessful stint with Team Spirit earlier in the season. Unfortunately, Panto's first outing as MOUZ's captain has gone off to a poor start as they fell to Yellow Submarine–a stack of young, promising Eastern European players–in their opening match of the qualifier.

The opening game of the series started out fairly competitive, though Yellow Submarine were able to pull away as the game went late and took the win after 45 minutes of action. Maxim “Shigetsu” Popadinec led the way for Yellow Submarine in game one as Clinkz, pacing his team's 29-19 kill lead with 10 kills and nine assists on three deaths. Meanwhile, Remco “Crystallis” Arets on Shadow Fiend had 10 kills and four assists against three deaths despite the loss for MOUZ.

While MOUZ appeared competitive in game one, they looked utterly outclassed by Yellow Submarine in game two. The team of young Eastern European players stomped their veteran opponents to the tune of a 35-8 kill lead in just under 32 minutes to close out the 2-0 series sweep. Shigetsu showed out on Tiny with a perfect 13-kill, 15-assist performance while Bohdan “Batyuk” Batiuk on Lycan had a clean seven kills and 22 assists of his own. Alexander “Rain” Nekrasov on Invoker added seven kills and 16 assists on two deaths.  

TEAM VISION and VP advance to second round of the upper bracket

While MOUZ failed to live up to expectations in their opening match of the European qualifier, VP and TEAM VISION did secure the needed victories to advance to the second round of the upper bracket. VP defeated IC x Insanity (ICI) in three games while TEAM VISION made short work of open qualifier team 4ikibamboni.

The series between VP and ICI kicked off with the latter taking the opening game in 47 minutes with a high-tempo draft headlined by Altanginj “423” Bilguun's Nature's Prophet, who finished with 10 kills and 17 assists on one death. 

VP struck back hard in game two, taking the lead from the get-go but having to grind out a 52-minute win to force the match to a decider. Enzo “Timado” Gianoli on Spectre led the way with 20 kills and 13 assists on two deaths, Abed Azel “Abed” Yusop on Earth Spirit had 13 kills and 24 assists on three deaths, while Kirill “Hellscream” Lagutik on Dark Willow added 12 kills and 28 assists on four deaths. 

VP carried their momentum into game three to secure the 2-1 reverse sweep after 39 minutes of action. Timado on Shadow Fiend paced his team's 37-16 kill lead in the closeout game with 13 kills and nine assists on two deaths while Hellscream on Dark Willow once again had 11 kills and 18 assists on five deaths.

The day then closed with TEAM VISION soundly sweeping 4ikibamboni in 65 minutes of total game time. TEAM VISION opened the series by routing 4ikibamboni in 30 minutes, with Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov on Kez pacing his team's lopsided 29-8 kill lead with a clean 10 kills and three assists.

4ikibamboni put up a better fight in game two, but they could do little to stop TEAM VISION from securing the 2-0 series sweep in 35 minutes of action. Satanic had another standout performance on Kez, putting up 11 kills and nine assists on three deaths out of his team's 38-18 kill lead in the closeout game. Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko on Invoker also added 10 kills and 16 assists on four deaths.

What's next in the TI 2026 European qualifier?

With all of the opening matches in the European qualifier concluded, the competition continues in the second round of the upper bracket and the first round of the lower bracket. 

The second round of the upper bracket will feature four matches, with the winners advancing to the third round of the upper bracket where they will fight for the first two spots in TI 2026. The losers will drop down to the lower bracket, where the remaining two spots will be up for grabs but with the threat of elimination looming over their heads. 

Here are the matchups for the second round of the upper bracket in TI 2026's European qualifier:

• Team Spirit vs Enjoy
• Nigma Galaxy vs Natus Vincere
• Yellow Submarine vs Virtus.pro
• TEAM VISION vs Power Rangers

Meanwhile, the first round of the lower bracket will feature the losing teams of the opening round of the qualifier. While they still have a chance of securing two spots in TI 2026, the road ahead will be treacherous. 

Here are the matchups for the first round of the lower bracket in TI 2026's European qualifier:\

• VP.Prodigy vs Team Bald Reborn
• Rune Eaters vs MODUS
• MOUZ vs IC x Insanity
• HULIGANI vs 4ikibamboni

What are The International 2026 qualifier regions, dates, and slots?

The International 2026 regional qualifiers cover North America, South America, China, Southeast Asia, and a newly unified European region, replacing the traditional split between Western and Eastern Europe. 

Here are the dates and slots per region of TI 2026 Closed Qualifiers:

China

• Dates: 15–18 June
• Slot(s): 2

South America

• Dates: 15–19 June
• Slot(s): 1

SEA

• Dates: 19–23 June
• Slot(s): 1

Europe

• Dates: 21–28 June
• Slot(s): 4

North America

• Dates: 24–26 June
• Slot(s): 1

The qualifier winners will join the directly invited teams–Aurora Gaming, BetBoom Team, Team Falcons,Team Liquid, 1w Team, Xtreme Gaming, and Team Yandex–to complete the 16-team field. 

The list of qualified teams to TI 2026 so far include Chinese qualifier winners  Team Resilience and Vici Gaming as well as South American qualifier winner LGD Gaming.

The International 2026 will take place in Shanghai, China, from 13 to 23 August, with a current prize pool of US$1.6 million. The tournament's final four days will be held live at the Oriental Sports Center, where the world's best team will be crowned champions in this 15th edition of The International.

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